First and Last
by ForeverDivisibleByThree
Summary: Thalia decided to treat Jason to a night of trick-or-treating on Halloween, but it didn't turn out so great. Halloween conceals the good and the bad, the weird and the normal, but most importantly the monsters from the ordinary - just perfect for two unknown demigod children. Happy-way-past-Halloween!


**A/N So here is another one-shot of a family relationship with Jason and Thalia. I just think Jason was the cutest baby ever (behind Leo of course) so I had to write this, especially with Halloween coming up in about 358 days. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes of Olympus...for now...people can dream...**

* * *

Thalia hated Halloween.

She hated the holiday, she hated all the weirdos who even considered dressing up, but most of all, she hated the Halloween party her mom always threw. It was always full of drunkards and rapists, and Thalia was always the one handing out and popping open beers. This year, her mom dressed up in a 'sexy witch' costume, which did not amuse Thalia the least bit.

It was just before the party, and Thalia's two year-old brother, Jason, was peering out one of the huge glass windows, his beautiful blue eyes following every trick-or-treater that started their way down the street. Jason had always loved the trick-or-treaters in their funky costumes running from house to house desperate to get more candy than their peers.

Thalia could tell Jason longed to go outside and ring the door bells and jump at the scary noises some people's porches made when you walked by. That's when she decided to go out and spend some of her well-earned money on cheesy costumes, Thalia decided to call it a late birthday present (okay, _way_ late since his birthday was July first) because her mom made her clean the house when it was his actual birthday.

Thalia walked over to Jason and started tickling his sides making him double-over laughing on the plush carpet. She stopped after a while and told Jason about the costumes she bought and how they were to go out and rob houses of their candy. Jason's face lit up like a jack-o-lantern, the small scar on his lip stretching into its own smile.

They made their way up the cold, marble stairs, Thalia carrying Jason, and once they reached Thalia's room, Jason jumped out of her arm, shoved open the door impatiently, and started jumping on her creaky bed. Thalia laughed at his antics and began to dig through her closet for the costumes.

For herself, Thalia got devil horns, a red leather jacket with a black undershirt, red ripped jeans (she would draw scars with her eyeliner where the holes are), and her black combat boots to finish it off. For Jason she got a white shirt and simple blue jeans in which she cut and burned holes through - she began to draw some cracks on him, too, once he was dressed and patted down some black and white makeup on his skin, hoping he would resemble a broken doll.

The devil and a doll. It was the best Thalia could have done with the decision made two days before the holiday. Thalia then stripped two of her pillows of their pillow-cases to hold their candy.

Downstairs, their mom's Halloween party had just begun and she spotted her mom sipping straight from a bottle of vodka, flirting with some burly biker man dressed up as, well, a biker man. How original.

Jason and Thalia snuck out with ease, though they did bump into a few beer-bellies (Thalia had no idea why drunk people never seem to have their shirts on), but they didn't seem to notice the kids. When the two Graces go outside all they could hear was the joyful cries of children and the _ding-dongs _of door bells. Kids chorused "trick-or-treat' around the duo, and Jason was about to sprint off and join them, but Thalia caught his arm just in time.

"Whoa, slow down, Jay. We don't want you getting lost, do we? Now lets start down the block, shall we?" Jason nodded his head in an extremely cute way and Thalia took his hand and guided them through the dark roads.

* * *

The first house they came to didn't seem much in the spirit, but they were open for business. Thalia and Jason hopped up the stone steps to the blinding white front door that was illuminated by a porch light. She lifted up her little brother so he could do the honors of ringing the doorbell. They had to wait a while for someone to open the door, but when it did open, there stood a woman - about mid-fifties with salt and pepper hair in curls crowning her head.

"Trick-or-treat!" Jason said, and Thalia repeated the words right after. The old woman smiled kindly at the youths and gave a handful of candy to of them. They bid soft 'thank you's to the stranger and continued onto the next house.

* * *

By nine p.m., Thalia and Jason had ringed about thirty or forty door bells and their pillow-cases were ripping at the seams. Only after a few houses, Jason's candy bag was being dragged on the harsh pavement known as the road, so Thalia had to lug two giant pillow-cases over her shoulder throughout their whole journey. Though, Jason's seemed to be lighter due to him having two pieces of candy after every stop.

Thalia and Jason were calmly strolling back to their - probably trashed - home, when Thalia heard something unusual to her right and instinctively pushed Jason behind her. The growling in her right ear kept rising and lowering in volume, making Thalia wonder where the noise was truly coming from. Was it some Halloween trickster? Her imagination? Or maybe there really was something behind the fence, in the bushes, seeking some fine dining on lovely holiday.

Whatever it was, Thalia didn't want to take chances, especially with Jason behind her, being oddly quiet for a whiny kid like him. Stories of monsters and ghouls haunting the children during Halloween had been told to Thalia since she was a little toddler - they never frightened her. But this was different, she was living the experience and since it was Halloween, she had a hard time deciphering what was real and what was not.

She glanced behind her for Jason and had to do a double-take, he was gone, and suddenly the sound of the crickets seemed to have increased in volume rapidly. Thalia ran around frantically rasping out Jason's name.

"Jason, JASON!?" Adrenaline picked up her heart rate, how could she have been so ignorant as to not even sense her little brother's presence gone. After a few minutes of running, Thalia gave up and dropped to the ground on her knees in the middle of the street, she dug her nails into her hair and a few tears streamed down her pale cheeks.

The low growl from the bushes decided to pipe up again, seemingly due to the lack of attention Thalia was giving it. But boy, Thalia was fuming, she sprinted over to the noise, hopped the fence with the swiftness of a fox, and started to dig through the thick hedge. She reached a clearing and her eyes met that of an unknown creature. Glowing red eyes, thick, black fur that has the look of dangerous spikes, all the features of her worst nightmare. Thalia yelped and backed away, although a little too quickly and she tripped backwards into a different, more thorny bush. Screams and choice words were on the tip of her tongue (hey, you could learn a lot from a couple of high people) and she turned around to jump the fence before the creature could do anything to her.

At the moment, Thalia was glad of her brother's absence, had he had been there, Thalia would have much trouble escaping and being sure of his safety at the same time. She was about to reach the top and sling her body over when the creature jumped on her and pulled her down, clawing her shoulder and making three big slices in the process.

Her back hit the damned thorny bush again and Thalia tried her best to get back on her feet. When she finally regained her balance, Thalia ran towards a tree and climbed it the fastest she could - probably leaving billions of splinters and small cuts on her hands. She walked on a thick branch that leaned over the fence and Thalia spotted the black monster below her attempting to climb the tree itself.

That's when she realized how high up she was. The young girl's breaths sped up and she started seeing stars. _Just jump, _Thalia encouraged herself, _the worst thing that could happen would be a broken arm or fractured ankle. _With that thought, she launched herself off of the wood, and landed perfectly - if perfect was considered landing on her feet, getting that numbing shock in her ankles, and collapsing to the ground in pain.

"Thalia?" She heard a little voice and something started poking her in the forehead. Thalia cracked open an eye and tackled the suspect to the ground.

"Jason, oh Jason, I thought I lost you. Oh God, I'm so happy you're alive, don't you dare leave me like that _ever _again." Thalia breathed out, feeling the weight of guilt finally lifting off of her shoulders.

Jason giggled and spoke, "I promise I not leave again." His innocent, blue eyes sparkled in the moonlight and Thalia couldn't help but chuckle at his choppy, grammatically incorrect sentences whenever he spoke. Thalia scooped up Jason in her arms and carried him home.

* * *

The teepeed house filled with empty bottles of alcohol was expected, the angry mother, not yet passed out from all the drinking, was not.

"Thalia Grace! What were you thinking, going out on Halloween when you should have served drinks and entertained guests! You, young missy, are in big trouble."

Thalia stuck her middle finger up at her mom before casually walking away - she had no idea what the gesture meant, but she had seen some of her mom's "buddies" do it before and the receiver seemed pretty offended by it, so it was worth a shot. Good thing Jason was asleep on her shoulder, she would never want him to witness this at such a young age just as she did.

Thalia woke Jason up, gave him a warm bubble bath - the water turning a murky gray from all of his makeup - before changing him into his pajamas and tucking him into bed. Their candy bags laid full by Thalia's bed and she saw Jason's eyes looking at them hungrily.

"Oh, no you don't. you've had enough for one night, we don't want you getting a stomach ache, do we?"

"Maybe..." Jason wriggled around mischievously. _I swear,_ Thalia thought, _this kid was like mom except with candy. Her alcohol intake had nothing on Jason's candy intake.  
_

__"Why arm cut up?" Jason asked, tilting his head to the left. Just then Thalia noticed her bleeding shoulder, then her thorn-ified knees, and scraped up hands.

"Mhmm, I'll be fine, Jay," Thalia whispered kindly, pecking a kiss on his forehead, "get some sleep, that is, if you can with all that sugar in your system." She walked out and switched off the lights before taking her own shower and covering her painful cuts. The older Grace bounded downstairs for a cup of water before bed, only to find her mom passed out on the couch, and she couldn't help but snort at her helpless mother - so pathetic.

When she got back to her room, Thalia just stared out the window for a few minutes wondering what that monster was and how the heck it even existed. But Thalia knew one thing for sure - never again is she going out trick-or-treating on a hell-like holiday like Halloween.

It may have been an illusion, but Thalia was pretty sure she saw the glowing eyes under the balcony of her room. Her palms started sweating and she decided to go sleep with Jason instead. Thalia snuck into his room, took him from his crib, and curled up on the fluffy couch with Jason in her arms. As long as he was there, Thalia always felt safe, no matter the situation. Halloween wouldn't make a hair stand up on her neck because Jason was there, and she knew it was certainly their last.

**A/N I hope you liked it, I didn't want to do much editing because I tried to make this on Halloween, but found I didn't have the time to finish. I'll try updating stories soon, maybe around the Thanksgiving holiday. Thanks for viewing and that blue-ish button below is looking very fancy today (Ooh La-la). **

**~PainAndPanicMinions~ **


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